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| Here's my mom Marilyn. Miss her....... |
This is the mild soup you want to eat when you are sick, or your roommate is sick, or you have nothing in the house but some broth or frozen chicken and veggies in the bin that are a bit wilted but still good. Or you want a filling meal for guests on a winter night when you are at the end of your budget for the month. Think winter, think cold, think comfort, think Marilyn. This was her soup. The dumplings are the best part.
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts with fat and bones.
Lots of veggies, like carrots, celery, turnip, mushrooms, etc
Boullion or chicken broth
2-3 cups flour
2 eggs
1 cup milk
salt, pepper and spices you may like
First, make sure you have a large pot with a lid.
Gather Veggies - Carrot, Celery, Mushrooms, Root Vegggies like rutebega, turnip or pumpkin if wanted. Chop small, into 1 inch pieces. I usually don't use potatoes but you can. Dont throw out ends, but put in with raw chicken when boiling for extra flavor.
Now, if you have broth from a boiled chicken or turkey carcas use this, say after Thanksgiving. Skip to "after broth is complete." If not-
Make the broth:
Buy two chicken breasts with fat and bones. Thighs also work but are a little fattier. Boil softly with tops of celery, garlic pieces and veggie end pieces for 20 minutes or until not pink inside.
While boiling mix together two cup of milk and two eggs. Set aside.
Remove chicken breasts. Save 4 cups of water of water from pot. Throw the rest away - yes that means the odds and ends veggies you boiled the chicken with. You are building flavor.
Now add chicken water back to pot with 6 more cups or so of cold water and enough boullion to flavor, but not too salty at this point. Bring to a boil.
While waiting to boil remove fat and bones from chicken and shred chicken. You can cut and shred if its too hot or just shred. It depends on your timeline.
After broth is complete (from the carcas) or heated,
Add veggies and cook about 20 minutes or until you can pierce carrots or root veggies with a fork.
Add salt and pepper to taste - also rosemary, thyme and any other spice you like.
When veggies are done, turn off heat and add the chicken. Heat is off so we don't over cook the chicken. Taste to see if it needs more salt and pepper. There needs to be at least 4 inches of space at the top of the pot for the dumplings to expand. They shrink back down later. If not remove a few cups of broth and save to add back when dumplings are cooked.
Now back to the milk and eggs. (This was mentioned earlier in the recipe - not a game changer - just add 2 eggs and a cup of milk in a medium sized bowl) Add salt and pepper. Add two- three cups of flour and mix together until its a gloopy mess. Not runny, not firm. Bring soup to a boil again (You can make everything to this point and then wait until right before you eat to make the dumplings); Get a large serving size spoon hot by dipping it in the hot broth. Using hot spoon get a big glob of the dumpling mix and drop in in the broth. Keep going until it is used up. Put the lid on. Then boil for 5 minutes or until it may boil over. Watch - don't let it boil over. Then turn the broth off. Wait for 15 minutes. Don't open the lid!
Depending on your timeline, this soup can be really fast - 40 minutes; or slower, an hour and a half. Or you can cook slowly step by step on a Sunday afternoon.
Variation, you can add al-dente pasta or cooked rice at the end instead of dumplings.
Enjoy!
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| All ready to eat! |
